stilettogirl84
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I've been thinking lately about all the things women do to themselves for the sake of beauty. I personally have a love of high heels, that is completely unhindered by their impracticality or discomfort.
It got me to thinking of other things in the women have done and do now in to fit into the cultural idea of "beauty" in their time/ culture-
in some tribal peoples, a long neck is prized, and so the women wear metal rings around their neck- to strech them out. Rings are continually added, and eventually women cannot remove them because their necks will no longer support the weight of their head on their own.
in victorian times, women wore corsets, sometimes so tight that ribs were broken or cracked. Even during pregnancy, corsets were worn, and often birth defects and miscarriges were caused by this practice.
In aincient china (and as late as the 1930's), the practice of footbinding was practiced by nearly all well to do families who wished to marry off their daughters. The mothers would begin binding the feet of their young daughters at the age of three or four, tying the feet tight with fabric strips. The toes would be gradually broken and twisted underneath the foot, leaving the women unable to walk without great pain. The ideal was the three inch long "golden lotus" which was rarely acheived.
Nowadays, we look back and say to ourselves- we are modern- we are liberated. And we look down on the "poor backward women of the past"
but really are we so different?
And are high heels the modern footbinding? Women with bound feet were said to have a careful shuffling way of walking, which men at the time found to be stimulating. Are not high heels the same way? Women strutt their stuff in stilettos, and feel sexy and beautiful. But at the same time, just like bound feet, high heels are impractical, impair movement, and can often be quite painful.
I'm not planning on giving up high heels anytime soon, but it hurts the liberal in me a little bit to say so.
What are everyone elses opinions?
It got me to thinking of other things in the women have done and do now in to fit into the cultural idea of "beauty" in their time/ culture-
in some tribal peoples, a long neck is prized, and so the women wear metal rings around their neck- to strech them out. Rings are continually added, and eventually women cannot remove them because their necks will no longer support the weight of their head on their own.
in victorian times, women wore corsets, sometimes so tight that ribs were broken or cracked. Even during pregnancy, corsets were worn, and often birth defects and miscarriges were caused by this practice.
In aincient china (and as late as the 1930's), the practice of footbinding was practiced by nearly all well to do families who wished to marry off their daughters. The mothers would begin binding the feet of their young daughters at the age of three or four, tying the feet tight with fabric strips. The toes would be gradually broken and twisted underneath the foot, leaving the women unable to walk without great pain. The ideal was the three inch long "golden lotus" which was rarely acheived.
Nowadays, we look back and say to ourselves- we are modern- we are liberated. And we look down on the "poor backward women of the past"
but really are we so different?
And are high heels the modern footbinding? Women with bound feet were said to have a careful shuffling way of walking, which men at the time found to be stimulating. Are not high heels the same way? Women strutt their stuff in stilettos, and feel sexy and beautiful. But at the same time, just like bound feet, high heels are impractical, impair movement, and can often be quite painful.
I'm not planning on giving up high heels anytime soon, but it hurts the liberal in me a little bit to say so.
What are everyone elses opinions?
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